Hand starter for internal combustion engines



May 26, 1942. A, M. PORTER HAND STARTER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed Nov. 15, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. .ALBEBT M P012 TEE 2!; aw

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y 1941' T A. PORTER 2,284,230

- HAND STARTER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION E NGINES FiledNov. 15, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ALBL'BT M P031522 ATTY.

Patented May 26, 1942 Y S A S HAND STARTER, FOR INTERNAL ooMnUs TIONENGINES Albert lVLforter, Newton, Kans. Application November 15, 1941-, Serial No. 419,331

3 Claims. (01. 123-185) Thisinvention relates to a hand sta'rter'for internal combustion engines, and has'for its principal object the provision: of a mechanism that is hand operated for giving an initial motion to an engine for starting of the'same, said mechanism being connected to the engine in working relation to the engines flywheel ring gear.

A further object of this invention is to provide a hand operated starter for engines such as are employed on tractors, stationary engines, Diesel-engines, and marine engines, said starter having a crank and gear arrangement to turn the flywheel of the engine whereby little 'strength is required to start large engines of the above mentioned type.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a starter having safety. features to pre-' vent a direct kick on an 'operatorsarm while cranking an engineshould the-engine backfire, which heretofore occasionally resulted in'broken arms; and furthermore to provide astarter that will automatically disengage from the flywheel when the engine has started in motion.

v These and other objects will hereinafter be more fully explained, reference being had to the accompanying'drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which like characters will apply to like parts in the different views.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the starter and method of attaching the same to an engine, said engine being fragmentarily shown.

Fig. Z is an end view of the starter, parts removed for convenience of illustration. I

Fig. 3 is a side view of the starter.

This invention herein disclosed relates to a hand starter for internal combustion engines, and more particularly to large engines which re-' quire great power to start the same, and which are equipped with a flywheel ring .gear I that is secured to the rear end of the crank shaft for the engine (said crank shaft not being'shown in the drawings). Said ring gear lis generally'positioned at the rear of the engine block 2 and in the transmission housing 3 that encloses the said ring gear I.

The block has the usual offset or extension 4 and an opening 5 provided therein through which connection is made with the ring gear for starting of'the engine. The object of my invention is to turn the ring gear by hand operation, and it is commonly known that-an engine is turned by a crank axially secured to an end of the crank shaft, but due to the great compression of the engine much force or strength is required to turn the engine so thatthe same will start, and occasionally there is a backfire in the engine which may cause operators arms to be broken by the reversed turns of the engine, and furthermore there are engines equipped withelectrically operated starters which'lack efliciency in certain flelds'in which the engine is put to work. In

such cases my invention may be adopted to perform a satisfactory result.

My invention consists of a cylindrical starter housing 6, being ."open at each end, the longitudinal axis of said housing being in parallelism with the engine, and illustrated in the drawings at the right side of the engine. One open end of the starter housing is placed in registry with the opening 5 in the extension of the engine block, and said end of the housing hasa flange l to secure the starter-housing to the extension 4 by bolts 8. passing. through the flange l and threadedly engaging in theextension. The outer end of'the starter housing has a plate 9 to close said end after assembly of the starter parts have been completed;

Axially positioned in. the starter housing is a rotatable sleeve element ill and adjacent the outer end of the sleeve is'a bevel gear H integral, therewith as turning means for said sleeve" element. The forward end of said sleeve elementw is carried by awall 12 that is integrally joined to the inside of the housing wall, said wall l2 having a hub I 3 to receive last said end of the sleeve element, and'said sleeve element havinga shoulder M to engage against the outer side of said walllZ by which means an inner longitudinal movement of the sleeve'element will be avoided. The other end of the sleeve element is supported rotatably by a bearing l5 having an opening to receive said. end of the sleeve and said bearin'gto engage against the outer side of the bevel 'g'e'ar ll, said bearingl5 being secured to the inside wall'of the starterhousing by bolts I6 that extend through the wall of the starter hous ing and threadedly engage in abase I! which is integrally joined to one end of the bearing IS;

the sleeve being so carried will be void of longi- ;tudinal movement but will be free to. rotate as turned by the bevel gear H.

-Traversely positioned to sairl'gear H and in mesh therewith'is another gear l8, said gear l8 having one end'of. a shaft l9 integral therewith, the other end ofsaid shaft [9' extending outward through the side wall of the starter housing, there'being a hub 20 extending inwardly from the housing to engage against the 1 outer side of the gear 18 to properly retain said gear in mesh'with gear II, and a hub 2| outwardly extending from the housing through which the shaft [9 extends. In said hub 2| is positioned a packing 22 that is compressed against theshaft by a gland nut 23 threadedly engaging said hub 2|, whereby the packing material-around the shaft will prevent oil leakage outward from the starter housing.

It will be seen that the free end of the shaft I 9 is secured to a clutch mechanism which is- NT, oFFICE-f f V turned by a crank element 24, the clutch mechanismconsisting of a cylindrical member that ceive the; fre e end or the shaft- IB-andse'cured by a cotter pinjfi passing through said-member 25 and through said shaft 19,-the other 'endof receive the cylindrical has a bore in each end thereof, one bore to re- V the member 25 having Ia'face plate 21 integral: 7 therewith to frictionally engage against the face of plate 28, said plates being-tensionedtogether} by an annular-collar 29, that engages on the outer side of plate 21 and having an opening to member 2 2' Passing through the outer extremity?ofthe platela and the collar 29'are bolts 30 on which are positioned coil springs 3| to engage against the collar-and properly tensionedby nuts' 32"threadedly env gaging on-the threaded-end of the bolts, the

described. v r

To axially align the clutch plates it will be seen that plate 28-hasz'a cylindrical extension" 33" to engage-in the'bore' adjacent the'plateZ'L' Outw'ardly'extending from clutch'plate 28 is a socket e1ement'34; the recess in said element being pr'ef 7 erahly square or hexagonal to" receive the bent end 35 of the crank element, and being" secured from removal by a' cotter,-pin-3ithatengages through the wall of the socket-elemental and" through the bend-=35 of the crank.

. Now-itwillbe seen that when the crank is purpose of the clutch mechanisni being later turned, the'clutch and bevel-gears will be turned thereby rotating sleeve element I0, which is purposes, a threaded"s1'eeve' element rotatably mounted in said-housing and parallel therewith,

threaded internally to receive the tthreaded'pon tionof ashaft 31;"each end of 'which' extends outward from its respective end of the sleeve element, the inner end of' the shaft ltleingadjacent the opening in the extension land having a starter gear 38 mounted thereon, the teethof which are adapted to slide .in mesh with the teeth of the ring gear I as turning means for the ring gear. v Eccentrically positionedon the other end of the threaded shaft 314s a weight member39- which is secured to the shaft'by a set screw 40. In .Fig. '1' the weight and crank element are shown" horizontally for -convenience of illustraa tion', however in an idle period they will: be :ver-

tic ally, positioned. When the sleeve is turned, the threaded shaft by reasonof the weight will not rotate 'immediatelyfbut willbe moved longitue V dinally by the thr'ead'edengagement,.which'inf turn will cause gear 38 to slide in mesh with the ring gear 'I, When saidgears are properly engaged the longitudinal'movementiof the shaft 37 will be stopped'by the weight member 39 engaging againstthe outer end-or. shoulder A" of; the sleeve element, at iivlriich time, the threaded shaft will rotate with the sleeve element to turn the ring gear I for the purpose of starting the engine As soon as the :engine starts running starting immediately "the same may back 'fire causinga reverse turn of the starter, and if this '-occurs the clutch will permit sliding movement of thefclutch; plates toiunctionas a shock absorber to the person that has 'grippedthe crank. v 'Modiflcations may be made as lie within the scopev of the appended claims.

"l-Iaving fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:'

1:.In; ahand starter forinternal combustion engines comprisinga housing having two open ends, a threaded shaft centrally positioned in the l rotatable sleeve element and a gear in-"mesh therewith" to turnlthe same a crank and" means to connect the crank to saidlast gear to turn the sleeve element;

2 In: a. hand starter for internal combustion engines comprising an elongated cylindrical housing being open: at: one end for connection a. threaded'shaftadapted to being moved longitudinally. in said sleeve when said sleeve is turned," an-eccentrica-lly positioned weight member secured to one end of the shaft to restrict the longitudinal movement thereof in one direc- .tion,and' a starter gear mounted on the other end of the shaft to restrictthe movement the other directiorna coil spring positioned on the sleeve element adjacent the gear as cushion means for the gear in its movement theretoward, a gearsecuredto the end of the sleeve opposite the threaded shaft will revolve with a greater speed'than the sleeve element, and uby means of the threaded engagementof'theshaftand-sleeve,

the threadedshaft will bemovedoutward to disengage the starter gear 38 1mm ring gear- I instantly; and:when.the-gear'38 is thrown out, of mesh the same willzstrik'eagainst a spring 4|,

that is positioned over hub I3 to function as a cushion for saidgear 38.

*The purpose oflthe cl tch-m'echanism will now' be described. When the starter gear 38 is engaged withthering gear I instead of the engine the spring, and a gear transversely positioned to said last gear to, turn the same, a shaft axially secured tosaid last gear andextending through and outward of the side of the starter housing, a clutch and means to secure the same to the free end of saiizi'last shaft, and a crank element secured to the clutch to turn the same.

3. In a hand starter to turn the ring gear of internal combustion engines comprising a starter housing secured in close proximity to the periphery of theringige'ar'of the engine, an internally threaded sleeve member rotatably arranged in 7 said housing', a threaded shaft to threa'dedly, en-

gage in the" threaded sleeve to move longitudinally toward the periphery of the ring gear, a gear secured-.to one end-of the shaft to engage said ring gear when the shaft is moved theretowardga weight element secured, on the other 7 end of. the shaft'to locktheshaft with'thesleeve to turn-'thegear; apair of bevel gears to turnthe rotatable sleeve element, one gear being secured to the rotatable sleeve element the other: gear having a shaft; extending outwardi'through the wall of the housing; a crank and shock;absorbing means to connect the crank to saidflast shaft to turn: 'thebevel; gears. l e

' ALBERT M"; PORTER. 

